Novelist Joanne Ramos has spent much of her life on the outside. Born in the Philippines, she was six when she emigrated with her family to Wisconsin in the Midwest, where Asians were few and far between. Then when she attended Princeton University, it was on financial aid. And after a short period working on Wall Street, she became the first woman on the investment team at a private equity firm in Boston.
Now a mother of three, Ramos has published The Farm, a poignant story drawn from her own experience, but also conversations with mothers across the social spectrum. The novel, which she didn’t begin writing until she turned 40, offers social commentary on privilege, inequality and the lengths to which women will go to give their children the best possible start in life.